The invention is directed to a room air conditioner and more particularly to an assembly method and construction of an air conditioner.
Room air conditioners generally comprise an air inlet fan or blower which is powered by a motor to draw air in through an evaporator coil to be cooled and to direct the cooled air back into the room. Also, such air conditioners include a condenser coil for dissipating the heat picked up by the evaporator coil and a second fan or blower is provided to cause an air flow over the condenser coil to increase the heat dissipation of that coil. A compressor is provided to charge the pressure of a refrigerant which is then supplied to the evaporator coil for evaporation and thus cooling.
Such an arrangement is shown generally in U.S. Pat. No. 3,158,005, assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Additional features of a room air conditioner generally include a partition wall separating the evaporator coil from the condenser coil so as to maintain one side of the air conditioner as a "cool" side and another side of the air conditioner as a "hot" side.
Due to the complexity in number of parts associated with a room air conditioner, assembly of such a device oftentimes includes complicated and time intensive assembly steps and requires intricate manipulation of parts and tools. Such a process results in an increased cost of the room air conditioner due to increased manufacturing cost.
One attempt to reduce the complexity of assembly of a room air conditioner is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,735 which illustrates that a motor mounting bracket assembly is provided in two major parts with four connecting fasteners. One of the motor mount assembly sections is secured to a base pan by vertically oriented screws and the other part of the assembly is secured to the first part by four horizontally oriented screws which extend through a slot in the first member to permit variation in the length of the motor mount assembly.
After the motor mount assembly has been secured to the base pan and properly adjusted for its desired length between its end walls, another assembly is brought to the partially assembled air conditioner unit. This further assembly comprises a motor having a blower wheel attached at one end and a fan blade and fan shroud are carried at an opposite end of the motor shaft. This entire assembly is then set down into the partially assembled air conditioner with the drive shaft between the motor and the evaporator blower sliding through a vertical slot in the barrier wall dividing the hot and cold sides of the air conditioner. A separate piece comprising a filler block is then required to be attached to the barrier wall to fill in the vertical slot once the motor has been secured to the motor mount.
The method of assembling the barrier wall to the base pan is not disclosed. The method of assembly of the fan shroud to the condenser coil appears to be through the use of horizontally oriented threaded fasteners extending through a vertical flange of the fan shroud. Thus, the assembly operators are required to manipulate numerous fasteners of individual piece parts by attaching threaded fasteners both in a horizontal and in a vertical orientation during assembly. With this large number of parts and differing orientations of fasteners, the assembly method remains complex.
Another component of a room air conditioner is the electrical control panel which generally includes control buttons or knobs for controlling fan speed, temperature and position of various movable doors such as exhaust doors or fresh air inlet doors. The latter control knob generally comprises a mechanical connection and not an electrical connection. The electrical controls are connected both to the motor as well as to the compressor and further are connected to a source of electric power for the air conditioner. U.S. Pat. No. 2,952,997 discloses a unitary control panel wherein the electrical components are carried in a housing forming an air flow path between the room being cooled and the compressor compartment. Individual terminals are provided on the end of each wire from the motor and compressor that is to be connected to the control panel.
Thus, the complexities in wiring of the control panel to the various components poses a further manufacturing complexity adding to the cost of the air conditioner.